Everything Happens For a Reason

My name is Deanna Davidowitz!  I recently married Michael Davidowitz, and I’m still getting used to the new last name! I think a lot of people at camp still think of me as Deanna Kennedy.

I am originally from a pretty small town called Sydney River, Nova Scotia in Canada. I have amazing parents and a sister Nicole who is 24 and who I am incredibly close to. I am currently working at North Shore Day School teaching Pre-Kindergarten. My students are so smart and cute – I absolutely love working with children! I also work for Tyler Hill helping to collaborate and plan for the summer, and I also interview all of our female staff members. When I’m not teaching or thinking about camp, I love to go to the gym, explore NYC (where I currently live), travel, and hang out with friends.

My favorite quote has always been “Everything happens for a reason” which suits me well for my life, and in particular, my Tyler Hill story…

I heard about camp through a good friend of mine. Her older sister worked at Tyler Hill a long time ago, so my friend ended up giving it a try. She knew that I wanted to pursue a career in education so she came back that summer, told me I’d love it, and she was right!

I was a 19 year old finishing my first year of college at St. Francis Xavier University, when I had my phone interview to be a General Counselor – I was so nervous! I got the job in 2006, and came to camp knowing only my friend and my cousin who was new that year also. I worked with the Freshmen girls that year (who are now old enough to be Junior Counselors!) which is beyond crazy to me! I skipped one summer, and then came back in 2008 and have never looked back. This will be my 8th summer at Tyler Hill.

Camp has truly changed me for the better. Besides the obvious reason of camp being the most fun way to spend your summer, the values and life lessons that we learn and teach to our campers are unlike anything you can get anywhere else. Not only have I made everlasting relationships with so many campers, I have also made everlasting relationships with staff members and best of all I met my husband, Michael Davidowitz, here. (Hence, my favorite quote being “Everything happens for a reason…”)

I love the sense of family you get from being at Tyler Hill. I love that the minute you get to camp, and our campers step off the bus, it’s like we’re all one big family.

And in like any regular family, we do some pretty crazy things! Some of my favorites are playing Panic, and dressing-up our male counselors as girls and have an entire evening activity dedicated to them! Things like this you take a step back from and say, “I would NEVER do this if I wasn’t at camp”! That is EXACTLY what I love about camp!

But above all else, I guess that I can say that the absolute best thing that came out of me going to Tyler Hill was in fact making it a “forever” family for me by meeting the best person I know  – my husband Michael 🙂